Spaghetti is an easy meal for my husband to take to work with him, so I make quite a bit of it. With my current obsession with the crock pot, I decided to see what would happen if I added the uncooked noodles directly to the slow cooker and cooked them with the sauce. I expected to wind up with a gooey, nasty mess but was shocked to find that it turned out great. The noodles were plump and filled with flavor.

I haven’t found a jarred spaghetti sauce that I like, they’re all too sweet or bland, so I played around with tomato sauce and spices until I came up with something that I thought tasted pretty good. Not sweet, tons of tomato flavor and just a tad spicy. If you like the jarred sauce, you can always replace the tomato sauce, tomatoes, tomato paste and spices with an equal amount of your favorite sauce. That should be somewhere around 85 ounces of sauce.

Break spaghetti noodles in half and place on top of sauce. Cover with last can of tomato sauce.

Add sausage/hamburger mixture on top of noodles and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

On top of cheese, add diced tomatoes, tomato paste and herbs and spices.

Cook on high for 3 hours. Stir well and add 1-2 cups beef broth depending on how thick or thin you like your sauce. Cook for remaining hour or until ready to eat.

Notes

If you like your sauce thinner, you can always add more beef broth or water.

This recipe fills a 6 quart slow cooker. If your largest size is 5 quart, consider waiting to add the sausage/hamburger mixture until you are ready to serve.

If you don't like your spaghetti spicy, make sure to leave out the crushed red pepper flakes.

By Christy

Kryson's Kreations http://krysonskreations.com/

Update: June 21, 2016
I tried this recipe with rotini instead of spaghetti noodles, but I didn’t like the way it turned out. The rotini was mushy and didn’t hold up well. I think the rotini might have been too “thin” and a thicker noodle type would have worked. I doubt I’ll try it again with rotini or noodles like it.

Update: July 13, 2016
I tried the recipe this time with macaroni noodles and it worked wonderfully. Noodles weren’t mushy this time. I had to add 2 cups of beef broth, 1 wasn’t enough. The noodles soaked up all the liquid making it an even thicker dish. It was more like Spaghetti Macaroni Casserole. I will probably make it this way from now on because macaroni would be easier for the hubby to eat at work than spaghetti noodles.

Like this:

I didn’t have any fresh parsley, so instead of the parsley and basil, I added about 1 Tablespoon of Italian Seasoning instead. You can find Italian Seasoning with the spices. It’s a pre-mixed variety of herbs commonly used in Italian food. Since I used pressed ham, omitted the salt since ham has such a high salt content. It turned out pretty well. I think next time I might try adding some cream cheese to make the dish a little creamier.

In skillet, saute mushrooms, onions, and potatoes until tender; drain. Place over cheese and top with ham. (If using pressed ham, consider frying in the skillet to remove some of the added liquid before adding to baking dish.) Add remaining cheese.

When I need a side dish that goes together fast so I can concentrate on the rest of a large meal, this is one of the first recipes that springs to mind. I’ve made it for large potluck gatherings as well and there’s rarely any left.

My family loves it and it freezes well, so it’s one of my favorite go-to sides for large meals, holiday meals and other gatherings.

Sometimes you just need to get something on the table fast. Now and then, more than that I’m not willing to admit, I get distracted and realize at the last minute that I need to get dinner on quick. When those nights happen, I often make this recipe since I keep most of the ingredients on the shelf or in the freezer.

I don’t always have mushrooms around, but if I happen to have some I use them. You can also use canned mushrooms if you prefer.

Fast but hardy, this versatile dish hits the spot when you’re in a pinch.

Add frozen broccoli and cook 10 minutes or until potatoes and broccoli are tender.

Remove from heat and let stand until sauce thickens.

Notes

This dish is great for using up leftover veggies. Instead of broccoli or in addition to, use leftover zucchini, bell peppers, carrots, green beans or anything you think would taste good with sausage and cheese sauce.

Add a cup of shredded cheddar with the salsa for a more "real" cheese taste.

I remember loving my mother’s Pork Marengo as a child, so when she passed down some of her recipes to me this was one of the first I tried my hand at.

I’ve modified the recipe slightly over the years and sometimes add more mushrooms and tomatoes than listed here when I have extras that need to be used. It’s even better with fresh tomatoes.

You can substitute canned mushrooms for the fresh ones, but it’s quite a taste difference. I try to avoid canned mushrooms because they have that “canned” taste, but sometimes it’s just more convenient.

The original recipe calls this Company Casserole because it “has things commonly found in your kitchen” so you can whip this up when company comes over. Sadly, I don’t commonly have all these ingredients in my kitchen, and I added a few more, so company casserole isn’t fitting. But, I couldn’t think of anything else to call it. I’m not very creative when it comes to dish names. Poor Man’s Lasagna has been suggested or Italian Casserole of the Thousand Calories, but I think I’ll try to figure something else out.

Sprinkle cutting board with flour. Pull biscuits apart and use rolling-pin to flatten biscuits until about 4 inches across. Place on baking sheet.

Spoon about 1 1/2 tablespoons pizza sauce onto each biscuit. Sprinkle with about 2 tablespoons of cheese. Let everyone top with favorite toppings.

Bake until crust is brown, about 10-15 minutes.

Get creative! Try BBQ sauce instead of pizza sauce with chicken, red onions, a slice of provolone and jalapeños. Alfredo sauce, shrimp, mozzarella, onions and chopped broccoli is very good, too. Ketchup, mustard, american cheese, pickle relish, onions and hot dogs for the hot dog lover. You can use Grands biscuits for thicker crust, or larger crust if you flatten it out more. Bake for 15-20 minutes if you use Grands.